THE COURTS Service annual report for 2007 shows an increase in activity in the courts, with a dramatic rise in the number of personal injury cases and cases going to the Commercial Court.
There was also an increase in the number of criminal cases before the courts, with new murder cases up 18 per cent on 2006, and new rape cases up 26 per cent.
In the Supreme Court, 373 cases were received and 229 disposed of. This compares with 484 received and 202 disposed of the previous year. Waiting times in the Supreme Court vary between six months for priority cases and 26 months for ordinary cases. Short appeals, which can be dealt with on a Friday after the motions list, are usually heard within 12 months.
In the High Court, waiting times vary widely, with certain Companies Act and commercial cases being heard within four weeks, while asylum cases, and personal injury cases heard in some centres outside Dublin, taking up to 29 months.
The volume of cases heard in the High Court increased by 26 per cent. The High Court was brought to an increased number of venues outside Dublin during 2007, which gave the court an additional 200 sitting days, allowing a larger volume of work to be dealt with.
The most dramatic increase in its workload was in personal injury actions, up from 2,673 in 2006 to 5,951 last year. The figure was 746 in 2005.
All personal injury cases must first go to the Personal Injuries Assessment Board before being certified to go to the courts.
Medical negligence cases rose by 70 per cent, from 334 in 2006 to 566 last year.
Asylum judicial reviews also increased, with 1,024 entered, compared with 909 the previous year. However, the increase in cases where leave was granted doubled, up from 139 in 2006 to 263 last year, with 343 settled (normally on the basis of the State conceding on a contested matter), giving a total of 706 successful judicial reviews of asylum decisions in 2007. Leave to apply was refused in 56 cases.
Legal costs were reduced by an average of 39 per cent on application to one of the two Taxing Masters, from a total amount claimed of €41,258,000 to an amount allowed of €29,735,000.
In the Central Criminal Court there were 39 murder cases, up from 33 the previous year, of which just eight ended in acquittal. There were 73 new rape cases, up from 58 in 2006, and 48 convictions. Waiting times in the Central Criminal Court are now down to between six and eight months, and three to five judges regularly sit in this court.
There were 2,807 criminal cases in the Circuit Court, an increase of 9.5 per cent, of which a quarter related to larceny, theft or robbery, and another 21 per cent to assaults. Drug offences accounted for almost 14 per cent.
The District Court dealt with 388,345 cases, the vast bulk of which, 279,654, were traffic offences. It also dealt with 48,272 indictable cases where the offender opted to be dealt with summarily rather than going before a judge and jury in the Circuit Court.
Civil cases in the Circuit Court increased by 15 per cent, to 30,435 in 2007, of which more than half related to breach of contract or debt collection. There was an 18 per cent increase in such business in the District Court.
The Small Claims Court also saw a rise of 25 per cent to 3,734 new cases. Forty-one per cent of them came via the online Small Claims system. The year saw a drop in the number of licensing applications, with new pub licences down 17 per cent and new hotel bar licences also down.